New guy -- old unknown double gun

Hello John Bud
Can you show us some pictures of what is marked under the barrels and elsewhere on the rifle.
Bockwordt in Olendburg isn't mentionned in my books ....
Perhaps only the seller.
If you show us the proofmark I can eventuelly tel you the or période of makin , the country and with a little chance the gunsmidt how made it ....

Thanks
LF

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Thank you for the excellent translation. Your English is 1,000,000 times better than my French.

Here are some views of the hidden areas : A bit redundant, but I wanted to get different angles and light in case there was some faint mark that I am missing.

The story of assembly numbers is interesting. Since they wanted to produce a nice gun for the customer, the whole gun was assembled "in the white" (with no finish and no hardening), and hand fitted as necessary. Then the parts were given a final polish, blued or case hardened or whatever, and re-assembled. The numbers made sure the previously fitted parts were assembled correctly.

Just some FWIW based on a e-mail question. The man wanted to know how they managed to get the screw slots all lined up on the old guns. The answer is simple, though not obvious. The screws were made wtih extra thick heads, with normal slots. After they were tightened down, the projecting sides were marked with the right direction, the screw removed, and the head cut down to the proper height. The new slot was then cut, using the marks for alignment, and the marks polished off. This was, of course, very tedious, time consuming and expensive, and by the early 20th century it was done only on the most expensive guns. Today such care is rare and few customers would notice it if it were done.

Only with a 3 .... we won't go very far.....
No name in the "platine" I don't know the english word for it ... the metallic piece with the hammer and the mecanisme..
The place on the upper side and between the barrels was principally used by the one how sold it ...
This rifle is to nice looking to have been made in a big serie.... so there must be somewhere an indication

LF, I'll take a very close look at all the gun to see if there are any marks on it anywhere. My suspicion is that any marks might be under a metal piece and that it would take un-screwing screws to get to it. I am not feeling brave enough to do that!

Jim, You know, I was actually wondering how they got the screws all lined up too! It might have been expensive, but is sure does make the gun look "finished".

For a gun that is 150 years old or more, it is incredibly tight. There isn't slop or wobble in any of the parts. Everything moves smoothly with consistent friction. Obviously, the master craftsmen that built it knew their craft far better than I can express.

For the same reason many cartridge guns draw little collector interest--rounds are obsolete, next to impossible to find, and very expensive when you do find them.

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I'll add another view. Collectors of antique firearms are historians at heart. Here in the U.S. we have virtually no history of pinfires. There were some Lefaucheux imported in the time of our war between the States- but other than that, pinfires were just not a significant part of our history. Perhaps a combination of forces were at work to create this situation.
1.) Pin fire ammunition was somewhat scarce and had to be imported.
2,) Reloading was thought to be too difficult if not impossible.
3.) The war had led to a great many experimental ignition systems which competed for attention,
and, most likely,
4.) The post-war ready availability of large caliber rimfire, and in time, centerfire cartridges and ammunition overwhelmed the pinfire concept in this country.

The firearm pictured is very attractive and, in my personal opinion, collectible BUT. lacking the historical connection, it would sell here in the US to a quite limited buyer market and probably at a price far below it's realistic value in Europe.